When I first heard about Wakoopa I wondered what the point was, but having actually used it, I find it strangely addictive. Wakoopa describes itself as “a social network that helps people discover the best software, games and web apps on the market.” In an increasingly open online environment, it had to be worth a look.

Tracking Your Apps

To use Wakoopa you have to install a small tracker application on your PC or Mac. After that it starts automatically, works invisibly and keeps track of the desktop and web software you are running. If you enjoy keeping track of stats for their own sake, then you will enjoy knowing how much time you spent running Gmail, Google Chrome or Twitter.

It’s a great way to get a snapshot of what you actually do, without any need to tie it to being productive, as most time trackers do. The evidence speaks for itself, showing me that I use Seesmic more often than Hootsuite to connect to Twitter. The charts about usage are also interesting.

The Social Side

There’s a social side too, though you will have to know someone on the network to get started with this. You can share your top applications and uses with other users and see theirs as well. You earn points for your use of Wakoopa, whether that’s using software for a certain number of hours, adding reviews or submitting suggestions.

So what is Wakoopa good for? In addition to showing how you spend your time, it’s a good place to discover other apps you might not have known about. Click on the name of any app and it gives you a ranking within its main category. Click on that category name to find other applications that you might not know about. If you’re looking for a replacement for your favorite freeware program which you now have to pay for, this could be the place to do it.

Would your life be poorer without Wakoopa? Not necessarily. There are other applications out there that track software usage such as RescueTime and Slife, There are other sites that help you to find replacements for applications you like, such as AlternativeTo. But are they as much fun and as social as Wakoopa? I don’t think so.

This post has been submitted by Sharon Hurley Hall from Get Paid To Write Online.com.

_____

Don’t miss a post in 2009, subscribe to receive PiggyBankPie’s articles by Email. Using an RSS reader? Subscribe to our Full RSS Feed.

Related Posts:

With The Launch of SearchWiki, What Now For Digg?
The RSS Mixer Options at a Glance
Short Guide To Lifestreaming
5 Wordpress Plugins To Increase Your Blog’s Stickiness
Top 25 Social Media News Websites

Leave a Comment »

I love Twitter, but sometimes feel I need a few more features than it offers. Brizzly fills the gap by providing an enhanced Twitter experience in your browser, and it’s got one other useful trick - the ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts. I put it to the test.

Adding Accounts To Brizzly

I started by adding the three Twitter accounts I manage. To do this, I had to login to each of them on the […] Continue Reading…

Leave a Comment »

Before I start this post I should make a bit of a disclaimer. I’m not your average business owner - I’m co-founder of a startup property website with a non-existent budget but lots of in-house talent. I also have a day job, working for a fantastic SEO company. Everything I know about blogging you can be sure I recommend to paying clients as well as implementing on my own sites. Business blogging has changed, […] Continue Reading…

1 Comment »

    Image by Cedric’s Pics
Want to add value to your blog? An easy way to do this is by creating a series of posts. It doesn’t much matter what the series is about, provided that it is related to your main theme and is something people will want to follow. There are several benefits to creating a series on your blog.

Why Create A Series?

First, creating a series enables you to link several posts together, […] Continue Reading…

Leave a Comment »

Image by The Library of Congress
It is understandable that some senior business owners would be leery of the black magic that is social media. Print ads and face-to-face networking have worked for them for years. Why change things up?

“What is the ROI?”

This is one of the first questions we hear when introducing social media marketing (SMM). SMM is not measured the same way your typical marketing plan is. The value […] Continue Reading…

Leave a Comment »